WHEATON, Md.-Between 12 and 17 percent of end users buy hands-free kits at the time they purchase their wireless phone, according to a nationwide survey of respondents at 400 retail distribution points conducted by Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd.
A similar percentage of respondents return to buy a kit within six months of their initial phone purchase.
“Encouraging greater adoption of hands-free is now critical for the industry,” the report noted. “Political pressures are building to impose restrictive legislation. Our findings show how the industry can stimulate end-user adoption of hands-free devices on its own accord, free from the burden of regulatory or legislative dictates.”
According to the report, “Stimulating the Adoption of Hands-Free `Car-Kits,’ ” sales associates said they are most motivated to sell hands-free kits to promote end-user safety rather than to increase accessory sales or to add minutes of use to the network.
In addition, the survey found that 52 percent of companies encouraging the sale of hands-free kits reported that more than one-quarter of their customers bought kits with the purchase of their mobile phone. In contrast, among respondents who perceived their companies as not encouraging the sale of kits, only 5 percent reported that more than one-quarter of their customers bought the kits when they purchased a phone.
“This finding reveals that internal communications and educational programs by cellular carriers to emphasize the importance of selling hands-free kits will go a long way toward increasing kit sales,” the report stated. “Such internal programs can prove an important complement to current industry efforts to educate the public to use mobile phones safely.”
